Sunday, September 13, 2009

Latest Obsession

Part of parenting is finding out which toys will work best for a child's age and development. When we started to notice Alexander's latest obsession with trains, it was time to turn to someone with train set experience. Neighbor Ann. Neighbor Ann was my next door neighbor in childhood, Young Life leader in high school and the older sister I never had. Imagine our surprise when Eric and I bought our first house in 1996 to discover Ann and her family living only two houses away. I never would have survived living in that neighborhood if Ann hadn't been there to laugh with me and help me find the humor regarding the crack addicts on my side of the street.

Anyhow, Neighbor Ann is the authority on train sets. Her three children have, by far, the coolest and most extensive train track we've ever seen. Whenever Eric and I returned from a visit to their home, our conversation would inevitably turn to the massive train set that traveled from their living room, through the dining room, and into the sun room (not only was it the coolest kid toy but it was quite the obstacle test when walking through their home!).

Thanks to the advice of Neighbor Ann, we decided to try out an IKEA train track, rather than spending insane amounts of money on a train track for a two-and-a-half year old who may not be ready for it. This weekend, my parents picked up the set when they were buying additional kitchen cabinets and Ho-Ho Papa and Daddy we set it up during Alexander's nap. From the moment we put the pieces together, we couldn't wait for him to wake up and test it out.

Oh man, the kid loved it! And it was fairly inexpensive so adding to the set will be affordable. Our set may not be as large as Neighbor Ann's but you have to start somewhere! Thanks for the advice, Ann! You're invited to visit and step over our set anytime!

Footnote: it may come as no surprise that with this latest obsession, I've cleaned out his toys (AGAIN) in anticipation of the holiday season. I can't help it. Cleaning is my obsession.

2 comments:

I so wish I knew that he was into trains. We just passed on our GINORMOUS box of trains to Auntie Carolyn for when her grandson comes over. Keegan was completely obsessed with trains. He would spend hours building and driving. (Well mommy spent hours building hee hee) Chell